Hey, Gearheads!

[gweimer]

Anyone ever hear of XADO Engine Treatment?  Anyone ever use it?

[Pilgrim]

After some quick research, my recommendation is to use synthetic oil and skip the additives.  This Xado stuff sounds like a rewound version of teflon additives with a little STP thrown in.

One of the problems with this approach is that bonding chemicals to the surface of engine parts requires a LOT more heat than you encounter inside a motor, and it has to be done in controlled, clean conditions.  That's why the teflon never stuck, but ended up in the oil pan.

I haven't used the stuff, but I flat don't believe their claims.  My suggestion is to run synthetic lubricants and you'll be well-served.

[rahock]

I agree with Pilgrim. There are a zillion miracle treatments out there and some of them will initially get rave reviews. However, a few years down the road they are either found out to be not so hot or even worse, to have damaging effects long term. Synthetic oils are tried and proven. Even the worst of them are have proven to be better than any addittives.
Rick

[Pilgrim]

Agreed, Rahock - the one thing that the additive claims to do that synthetic won't is to decrease oil consumption.  That's why I included the mention of STP, which essentially just thickened oil so a loose motor wouldn't burn it as readily.

To me, oil consumption is what it is.  You can change the viscosity of the oil you run (for instance, run 15-50 rather than 10-30) in an effort to reduce oil consumption, but until consumption gets to be more than a quart per thousand, I don't consider it to be a significant issue....and even then, if it runs well and doesn't foul plugs, just feed it oil and drive it.

Digression:

I once had a '66 GTO (389 V8, single Carter AFB carb) that had been run VERY HARD and hot, and when I got it, the oil rings had lost their temper.  Honest to god, it burned a quart every 50 miles...and I could lay down a smoke screen by running the RPM up, letting up on the throttle for 2-3 seconds and then nailing it again.  Compression and power were great, but those oil rings weren't doing much.  I rebuilt it before long....problem solved.

[rahock]

Yep, old days gearhead rule of thumb was if you had a GM engine burning oil you had a a problem brewing but it was probably good for a while. With a Ford engine you were good to go for as long as you could afford the oil . I had a couple of Ford trucks that burned a lot of oil and I had some concern but nothing ever got worse over the course of 120-130 thousand miles. Compression and plugs all looked good........I just added oil.

I used a teflon oil additive in one of my Volvo P1800s several years ago and I was really impressed. The second that I put it in my engine RPM increased over 100 RPM. Wow, this stuff really cut friction. I wasn't quite so impressed when I stored it away for a winter and it gunked the engine so bad it froze up on me .
I will say that the teflon additive I used in the manual trans was great. It shifted smooth as butter and  lived through two cars and a couple hundred thousand hard driving miles.
Rick